If you have been a visitor here for a while, I expect you have read my past profession was Architectural Drafting and Project Management. I have even had some construction management projects here and have started to help some foreigners design and build their own homes.

In America, an architectural firm, especially in residential architecture draws the plans and elevations for construction. In house or with associations we would provide all structural, electrical and mechanical plans to give the client a full set of plans to take to the building department for permitting.

The best view the client would get was the black line, no more blue lines or blueprints, elevation drawings showing all four sides of the building. Sometimes we would draw basic interior elevations to show cabinets, built-ins or any specialty carpentry. At times the client would request a colored elevation for marketing.

For high end houses, especially if being build to sell, the developer would hire a company to do a perspective drawing. This style of drawing was usually drawn by hand and would give the look of a 3d representation. There were some specialty graphic companies that would make this perspective drawing look more like a photo, or at least more realistic. These drawings were for marketing brochures or advertisement. There were some 3d modeling programs on computer, but this type of service was expensive and timely.

I did not work with or know anybody who did this type of work in America. Then I moved to the Philippines and was hired for about seven months with an Engineering, Architectural and local building firm here in Davao. There I met a young man who started his career as a graphic artist before attending Architectural School.

This man is amazing; with the use of Google Sketchup or AutoDesk 3D modeling and 3D StudioMax he can take a floor plan and elevation and turn it into a 3D model. From this model he can show views that look as a photograph of a finished product or even a video walk-thru of what looks like someone with a video camera recoded their visit to a real home. He has also taken a photograph of a street and inserted a rendering of a building to show how the block will look after the new project is built.

With my contacts and lists of architect firms and developers in America, we teamed up and just opened a website offering these services. Even if you are not in the building trades or an architect, I think you will enjoy seeing his work. If you are in the industry, or know of someone who is, I would appreciate you letting them know about us. We offer amazing work with lower prices than you can get anywhere in the States, Canada, Europe or most anywhere.

The site is BestRender4U and I hope you will enjoy it. This is the beginning, over time we will add more examples and more U.S. style representations. Feel free to comment on your thoughts.

12 Responses to “My New Venture”

I took a look at your site Bruce and must say it’s pretty impressive and professional . To clear up some confusion does this mean that you still do arch. design work for individuals that might want to build thier own homes from scratch ?

Alan,
Thank you. The friend is amazing, not only does he do graphics, architecture and rendering, he also designed the website and works with Flash. We are planning to update the site eventually and do more things with it.

About house design, yes I am available to design houses and with my architect partner have all the structure done for building the house in the Philippines. In Davao and some other areas we can take care of the construction and have it built too.

David,
Thanks. I was amazed at what could be done and the amazing work my friend and partner does with his computer.
I visited your site http://www.lifeinus1960present.blogspot.com/ and was also impressed with your writings and your background. I will spend some time reading your adventures.

i am a college student, majoring in interior design. so, when i read your post, i feel like i can pretty much relate to it. i want to ask you some questions:
have you done this kind of work before in the US?
and
is it different in the philippines and in the US? i mean, the way the houses shaped and everything? and how do you overcome the differences?
because i haven’t really been into any architecture firm, i want to know what it’s like to work in one. thank you!

Dina,
In America and the time I worked here, I mainly did residential architectural work. Here I did help with some of the outsourcing of motels in America.

In America we would do what we call builders sets. We did everything needed to permit and build the house. We did not do finish schedules or pick paint colors, floor tiles etc. That was the builders obligation. Also in most cases the fee was based on the square footage of the air conditioned space.

Here they show everything and also do a bill of materials and labor costs show the cost of the building. The fee is based on a percentage of the cost of the house and also the fee covers the time of the Architect, or his representative to visit the site and make sure it is built to plan. Also many firms do a 3d model of the house and a view of what the house will look like when complete. One time the rendering showed a car in the driveway and the client asked if that was included.

Houses in the Philippines are in many cases more functional and smaller spaces. Also the exterior in the upper scale houses as in some commercial quilting are what I call “Bright, Bold and in your face” with bright colors. There is one house I had seen with lavender walls and dark purple trim.

Working in a firm is different for everyone. One difference I noticed here was in America you get a work space with room for your computer and enough room to lay out a set of plans. Here everyone sites almost shoulder to shoulder with no free desk space.

I also noticed here, even though all I worked with were talented, many use just basic AutoCad and never giving the time to use the better features or advanced techniques.

Feel free to email me through the “Contact Me” tab with any architectural or AutoCad questions.